Air conditioner having outlet port

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is an air conditioner in which the structure of an outlet port is improved to prevent dew condensation at the outlet port. The air conditioner includes an outlet port to discharge air and a guide forming a discharge channel to guide air to the outlet port side. The guide is formed in a step shape to expand the discharge channel. The air conditioner has the effect of preventing dew condensation at the outlet port.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No.2007-022216, filed on Mar. 6, 2007 in the Korean Intellectual PropertyOffice, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and, moreparticularly, to an air conditioner where the structure of an outletport is improved to prevent dew condensation at the outlet port.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, an air conditioner to air-condition a room includes a heatexchanger and a blower mounted in a main body. An outlet port is formedin an upper front of the main body and an inlet port is formed in alower front of the main body such that indoor air in a place to beair-conditioned is circulated by convection to accomplish airconditioning.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating an outlet port of a conventionalair conditioner.

Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional air conditioner includes an outletport 1 to discharge air-conditioned air, a blowing fan 5 mounted insidethe outlet port 1 to blow air-conditioned air to the outlet port 1, andblades 6 to control the direction of air discharged by the blowing fan5.

Korean Registered Utility Model No. 20-0258460 discloses an airconditioner that is capable of preventing dew condensation. This airconditioner includes a guide 2 forming a discharge channel to guide airto the outlet port 1 side, a discharge boundary 3 formed adjacent to theoutlet port 1 to face indoor air, and an arc-shaped curve 4 formedbetween the guide 2 and the discharge boundary 3 and having apredetermined curvature.

Low-temperature air discharged by the blowing fan 5 passes through theguide 2 and flows to the discharge boundary 3 along the curve 4. Whenthe low-temperature discharged air is continuously supplied to the curve4, the low-temperature discharged air does not mix with high-temperatureand high-humidity ambient air at the curve 4, and therefore, dewcondensation at the curve 4 is prevented.

However, the low-temperature discharged air mixes with high-temperatureand high-humidity ambient air at the discharge boundary 3 with theresult that dew condensation occurs at the discharge boundary 3. Thatis, the discharge boundary 3 contacts indoor air, and therefore, dewcondensation occurs at the discharge boundary 3. Consequently, it isnecessary for a user to remove dew condensed at the discharge boundary3, which increases the inconvenience of the user and decreases aconsumer's satisfaction.

SUMMARY

Therefore, it is an aspect to provide an air conditioner that reducesthe amount of cool air transmitted to a discharge boundary to preventdew condensation at the discharge boundary.

Additional aspects and/or advantages will be set forth in part in thedescription which follows and, in part, will be apparent from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

The foregoing and/or other aspects are achieved by providing an airconditioner including an outlet port to discharge air and a guideforming a discharge channel to guide air to an outlet port side, whereinthe guide is formed in a step shape to expand the discharge channel.

The guide includes a first guide part forming the discharge channel anda second guide part connected to the first guide part, the second guidepart having a step to expand the discharge channel.

Preferably, a step is formed between the first guide part and the secondguide part.

The discharge channel has a central axis and the second guide part isinclined at a first predetermined angle θ1 to the central axis of thedischarge channel.

The guide includes an incline connected to the second guide part, theincline being inclined at a predetermined angle θ2 to the central axisof the discharge channel.

The foregoing and/or other aspects are achieved by providing an airconditioner including a guide forming a discharge channel to guide air,an outlet port to discharge the air guided by the guide, and a dischargeboundary formed adjacent to the outlet port to face indoor air, wherethe guide is formed in a shape to expand the discharge channel such thatdew condensation is prevented at the discharge boundary.

The guide includes a first guide part forming the discharge channel anda second guide part connected to the first guide part, the second guidepart having a step to expand the discharge channel.

The guide includes an incline inclined at a predetermined angle ƒ2 tothe central axis of the discharge channel, and the second guide part isinclined at a predetermined angle θ1 to the central axis of thedischarge channel.

The inclined angle θ1 of the second guide part is less than the inclinedangle θ2 of the incline.

The foregoing and/or other aspects are achieved by providing an airconditioner including an outlet port having a stepped guide; a dischargeboundary adjacent the outlet port; and a fan blowing air through theoutlet port, where the stepped guide is inclined with respect to thedischarge boundary.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages will become apparent and morereadily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments,taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating an outlet port of a conventionalair conditioner;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an air conditioner accordingto the present embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view illustrating an outlet port side ofthe air conditioner according to the present embodiment; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of part A of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiment, examples ofwhich are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein likereference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiment isdescribed below to explain the present invention by referring to thefigures.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an air conditioner accordingto the present embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 2, the air conditioner includes an outlet port 10formed in an upper part of a main body 50 to discharge air cooled orheated while passing through the main body 50 into a room, an air flowdirection control unit mounted inside the outlet port 10 to control theflow direction of the air-conditioned air, and a guide 20 forming adischarge channel to guide the air to the outlet port 10 side. The guide20 is formed in a step shape to expand a discharge channel toward theoutlet port 10.

The outlet port 10 is formed in an upper part of a front panel 51mounted at the upper part of the main body 50. The outlet port 10 isdisposed at an end of the guide 20 forming the discharge channel,through which the air-conditioned air flows to the room side. Inaddition, a discharge boundary 30 (shown in FIG. 3) is formed adjacentto the outlet port 10.

The air flow direction control unit includes a plurality of horizontalblades 56 mounted inside the outlet port 10 to control the vertical flowdirection of the air-conditioned air, a plurality of vertical blades(not shown) mounted at the rear of the horizontal blades 56 to control ahorizontal flow direction of the air-conditioned air, and a motor (notshown) to drive the horizontal blades 56 and the vertical blades.

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view illustrating the outlet port side ofthe air conditioner according to the present embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 3, a guide 20 includes a first guide part 21 formed inparallel with the central axis 24 of the outlet port 10 to guideair-conditioned air to the room side while contacting theair-conditioned air, and a second guide part 22 connected to the firstguide part 21 and formed in the sectional shape of a step to expand thedischarge channel. The second guide part 22 is inclined at apredetermined angle θ1 to the central axis 24 of the outlet port 10, andthus inclined with respect to the first guide part 21. The guide 10further includes an incline 23 connected to the second guide part 22such that the incline 23 is inclined at a predetermined angle θ2 to thecentral axis 24 of the outlet port 10.

Hereinafter, the operation of the air conditioner according to thepresent embodiment will be described.

A user presses a power button on a control panel 52 mounted at the frontpanel 51 of the air conditioner shown in FIG. 2 to operate the airconditioner. Then, a blowing fan 53 is rotated, and indoor air isintroduced into the main body 50 through an inlet port 54 formed in, forexample, a side of the main body 50 by the rotating force of the blowingfan 53. The air introduced through the inlet port 54 passes by a heatexchanger 55 where the air is heat-exchanged with a coolant flowingthrough the heat exchanger 55, with the result that the air is cooled.The air that is air-conditioned by the heat exchanger 55 flows to theblowing fan 53 side and is then discharged through the outlet port 10,which is formed in the upper part of the main body 50.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of part A of FIG. 3 illustrating the flow ofthe discharged air and indoor air at the outlet port side of the airconditioner according to the present embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 4, the first guide part 21 forms the discharge channelin parallel with the central axis 24 of the outlet port 10, andtherefore, the air-conditioned air moves to the room side whilecontacting the first guide part 21. The step is formed between the firstguide part 21 and the second guide part 22 to expand the dischargechannel. Consequently, when moving from the first guide part 21 to thesecond guide part 22, the air-conditioned air creates whirlpools at thestep.

Also, the second guide part 22 is connected to the first guide part 21such that the step is formed between the first guide part 21 and thesecond guide part 22, and the second guide part 22 is inclined at thepredetermined angle θ1 to the central axis 24 of the outlet port 10 toexpand the discharge channel. The incline 23 is connected to the secondguide part 22 such that the incline 23 is inclined at the predeterminedangle θ2 to the central axis 24 of the outlet port 10.

Consequently, when comparing the amount of discharged air contacting thefirst guide part 21 per unit time with the amount of discharged aircontacting the incline 23 per unit time, the amount of discharged aircontacting the incline 23 per unit time greatly reduces, and therefore,it is difficult to cool the incline 23 by the discharged air.Furthermore, when the inclined angle θ2 of the incline is greater thanthe inclined angle θ1 of the second guide part 22, it is furtherdifficult to cool the incline 23 using the discharged air.

Also, the discharge speed of the air-conditioned air is greater than thefree movement speed of indoor air with the result that the pressure ofthe discharged air is lower than that of the indoor air. Consequently,indoor air moves toward the discharge channel of the discharged air. Asa result, indoor air moves between the incline 23 and the discharged airmoving along the discharge channel, whereby the indoor air is introducedto the second guide part 22 side.

In conclusion, the amount of the air-conditioned air, i.e., the coolair, contacting the incline 23 per unit time greatly decreases, and alarge amount of air-conditioned air does not move to the dischargeboundary 30. As a result, the air-conditioned air does not mix withindoor air at the discharge boundary 30, thereby preventing dewcondensation at the discharge boundary 30.

The air-conditioned air does mix with indoor air due to the whirlpoolsof the air-conditioned air caused by the step formed between the firstguide part 21 and the second guide part 22 and due to the introductionof the indoor air to the second guide part 22 side. The result is thatdew condensation occurs at the second guide part 22 side. However, theamount of condensed dew is very small, and therefore, the condensed dewdoes not drop or is not dispersed by the discharged air.

As apparent from the above description, the present embodiment has theeffect of preventing dew condensation at the outlet port and thuseliminating the necessity for a user to remove dew, thereby increasingconsumer's satisfaction of the products.

Furthermore, the present embodiment has the effect of preventingcontamination due to various kinds of dust generated by dew condensationat the outlet port.

Although an embodiment has been shown and described, it would beappreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in thisembodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of theinvention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and theirequivalents.

1. An air conditioner, comprising: an outlet port discharging air; and aguide forming a discharge channel to guide air to an outlet port side,the guide being formed in a step shape to expand the discharge channel.2. The air conditioner according to claim 1, wherein the guide includesa first guide part forming the discharge channel and a second guide partconnected to the first guide part, the second guide part being steppedfrom the first guide part to expand the discharge channel.
 3. The airconditioner according to claim 2, wherein a step is formed between thefirst guide part and the second guide part.
 4. The air conditioneraccording to claim 2, wherein the discharge channel has a central axisand the second guide part is inclined at a first predetermined angle tothe central axis of the discharge channel.
 5. The air conditioneraccording to claim 2, wherein the discharge channel has a central axisand the guide includes an incline connected to the second guide part,the incline being inclined at a second predetermined angle to thecentral axis of the discharge channel.
 6. An air conditioner,comprising: a guide forming a discharge channel to guide air; an outletport discharging the air guided by the guide; and a discharge boundaryformed adjacent to the outlet port to face indoor air, the guide beingformed in a step shape to expand the discharge channel such that dewcondensation is prevented at the discharge boundary.
 7. The airconditioner according to claim 6, wherein the guide includes a firstguide part forming the discharge channel and a second guide partconnected to the first guide part, the second guide part being steppedfrom the first guide part to expand the discharge channel.
 8. The airconditioner according to claim 7, wherein the discharge channel has acentral axis and, the second guide part is inclined at a firstpredetermined angle to the central axis of the discharge channel, andthe guide includes an incline inclined at a second predetermined angleto the central axis of the discharge channel.
 9. The air conditioneraccording to claim 8, wherein the inclined angle of the second guidepart is less than the inclined angle of the incline.
 10. An airconditioner, comprising: an outlet port having a stepped guide; adischarge boundary adjacent the outlet port; and a fan blowing airthrough the outlet port, wherein the stepped guide is inclined withrespect to the discharge boundary.
 11. The air conditioner according toclaim 10, wherein the stepped guide includes a first guide part, asecond guide part and an incline, the first guide part being steppedwith respect to the second guide part, the second guide part beinginclined with respect to the incline, and the incline being angled withrespect to the discharge boundary.
 12. The air conditioner according toclaim 11, wherein the output port has a central axis, the second guidepart is inclined at a first predetermined angle to the central axis andthe incline is inclined at a second predetermined angle to the centralaxis.